Scope and Content Note
The papers of Donald John MacDonald (1908-1997) span the years 1930-1997 and consist of biographical material, bulletins, correspondence, histories of naval vessels, memoranda, newsletters, newspaper and magazine clippings, orders, organization books, pictorial logs, regulations, reports, rosters, writings, and other miscellaneous material. The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material and chronologically therein.
Biographical material consists of appointments and certificates, official navy biographies, citations for awards, an oral history interview, an obituary, and orders.
Correspondence in the collection chronicles most of MacDonald's naval career. Subjects of interest include his tour as special naval observer at the American embassy in London, 1940-1942; his involvement with the fitting out of the USS O'Bannon at the Bath Iron Works Corporation in 1942 and subsequent command of the ship in combat against Japanese forces in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1943; his attachment to the staff of General Dwight D. Eisenhower from June to November 1945 when MacDonald he worked with the army in accomplishing the effective crossing of the Rhine River; and his command of the presidential yacht, the USS Williamsburg, from 1948 to 1951.
The largest section in the collection is composed of military service material which is arranged in two parts. U.S. Army material documents MacDonald's temporary assignment to that branch in 1945. U.S. Navy items consist of material relating to the six vessels which MacDonald commanded, the California, Heermann, Helena, Missouri, O'Bannon, and Williamsburg. MacDonald's combat record in the South Pacific is particularly well documented in material related to the destroyer O'Bannon. Two issues of popular comic books from the era feature the battle readiness of the ship and the heroism of her commander. Harry S. Truman's trips to Key West, Florida, on the presidential yacht are chronicled in the pictorial logs of the USS Williamsburg.
Among the miscellany is biographical material relating to MacDonald's brother, Charles H. MacDonald.